<div>
Hello deepakChauhan; 
Well, it puts them in order, however... 
#1: How do I attach a select statement to it? 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; select PageList from TheList where ID=1 
 
#2: How would I separate them, and group them like I showed in the example?
</div>

<div>
&gt;&gt;&quot;I am trying to make this as simple as possible &quot; 
Then I suspect you have failed in achieving that 
 
&gt;&gt;&quot;, as we have 1,000's of pages that are going to be updated&quot; 
why hold the data in such a weird way? 
If you need dates as dates then do not bury them inside a string at all 
 
even the date format you have chosen will doom you to complexity: 
 
Jan_20,_1983 
Feb_29,_2017 
Mar_1,_2016 
 
sorted by first letter that is: 
 
F 
J 
M 
 
so you have to locate each date (a potential failure point), convert it (another potential failure point) and (hopefully) sort it 
 
I'm afraid I cannot see this as being simple (or reliable) 
 
see: <a href="https://www.experts-exchange.com/articles/1499/DATE-and-TIME-don't-be-scared-and-do-it-right-the-first-time.html" rel="ugc">DATE and TIME ... don't be scared, and do it right (the first time)</a>
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<div>
@Paul Maxwell 
These are the name of the pages. 
These are also URL... 
site.com/File_Date_(Jan_14,_1976) 
And then it brings you to your page. 
That is the reason behind the Underscores and the abbreviated Months.
</div>

<div>
&gt;&gt;&quot;Sort Text Date from SQL Server Table Column&quot; 
 
OK. 
19760114 
1976-01-14 
Etc. Are also dates 
And sortable
</div>

<div>
I wanted to add this as well, before calling it a night. 
 
In the query, we can remove the following. 
From this 
File_Date_(Jan_14,_1976) 
to this 
Jan 14, 1976 
 
And then change it back at the end of the query. 
File_Date_(Jan_14,_1976) 
 
If that will make this easier... 
 
Also, if so, then we will need to make it so that I can choose what the 
File_Date_ 
is, in the form... &lt;input&gt; 
As this part will be changing later on in the future. 
The format will always be what it is. 
 
@Paul. 
Yes, that would be better, however, I can not change what has already been done.
</div>

<div>
I would &quot;split&quot; those long strings into rows using a &quot;splitter function&quot; (there are many of these) e.g. 
 
<a href="https://www.experts-exchange.com/articles/192/Delimited-String-Parsing-in-SQL-Server-2005-and-later.html" rel="ugc">https://www.experts-exchange.com/articles/192/Delimited-String-Parsing-in-SQL-Server-2005-and-later.html</a> 
<a href="https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/27646247/splitting-a-delimited-list-into-an-array-with-T-SQL.html" rel="ugc">https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/27646247/splitting-a-delimited-list-into-an-array-with-T-SQL.html</a> 
<a href="http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/" rel="ugc">http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/</a> 
 
Use one that returns a table of rows, often this is done using CROSS APPLY and you should get rows like these 
 
File_Date_(Jan_21,_1976) / 
File_Date_(Mar_18,_1996) / 
File_Date_(Jan_22,_1983) / 
File_Date_(Jan_20,_1983) / 
File_Date_(Jan_14,_1976) / 
File_Date_(Jan_18,_1979) / 
File_Date_(Dec_18,_1979) 
 
 
Once the data is split and forced into rows, then you manipulate each string by replacing (for example) &nbsp;'Jan' with 01, underscores with dash, comma with blank string and other unwanted detail to arrive at a string that should convert to a date 
 
e.g. 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;File_Date_(Jan_21,_1976) / 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;becomes 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 01-21-1976 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;then 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; TRY_CONVERT (date , '01-21-1976' , 110 ) 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;will give you a date to filter and sort by 
 
If you use cross apply and a table function then the structure of the code would be along these lines: 
 
select split_string, file_date 
from ( 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;select t.id, s.split_string, d.file_date 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;from your_table as t 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;cross apply ( 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;dbo.splitfunction([original_string]) 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;) ([split_string]) as s 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;cross appy( 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;try_convert(replace(s.split_string,'File_Date_(','') ... more 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ) (file_date) as d 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;) as derived 
where .... 
order by file_date
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<div>
Thanks Paul, for the information. 
However, I am quite lost at the moment, for the code that you supplied. 
I will read over the links, and see if i can gather some information from them as well.
</div>

<div>
I believe the general summary of the suggestions is: 
1. Create a temporary table that has File_Link (nvarchar) and File_Date (Date) columns 
2. Fill the table by processing each PageList from the TheList by 
2.1 Splitting the PageList using '/' (==&gt; File_Link) 
2.1.1 For each token from above, construct File_Date from each File_Link by splitting on '_' after throwing away the prefix 'File_Date_(' 
2.1.2 Insert File_Link and File_Date into the temporary table 
3. Select and group the results from the temporary table in the format needed, using all the date grouping functions available. 
 
 
Hope that has brought you back!
</div>

<div>
@Francis. 
That sound sweet. 
Once I re-install SQL Server 2012 (Started crashing on me, badly) 
I will see if I can do what you have suggested.
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<div>
It isn't mandatory to create/use a temp table (but you can do it that way) otherwise Francis has summarized it nicely. 
 
I would like to point out however that if the data was stored in a normalized way then 90% of this pain would disappear. In other words if your permanent table looked more like the temp table Francis has described, then the rest of the processing is quite simple (e.g. you could start at point 3 &nbsp;instead of starting at point 1).
</div>

<div>
Thanks for your input again Paul. 
However, as I stated, it is already done and is not going to be changed. 
 
I will jump back on this within the next couple of days, have a feel Monday and Tuesday coming up.
</div>

<div>
I finally got this working with the following. 
set @String=(select PageList from TheList where id=1) 
 
So, I am going to close this one. 
As I am not going to be able to visit the task of producing what I need at the moment. 
As code that was supplied by deepakChauhan will, at least, list them in order 
For easier manageability.
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<div>
@deepakChauhan. 
 
I seem to have an issue with your code, running it in Classic ASP page. 
 
This is the error 
Operation is not allowed when the object is closed. 
That is on the if rsSongs.eof then 
And if I remove that, then I get this 
Item cannot be found in the collection corresponding to the requested name or ordinal. 
This is the code that I have, (Both errors are notated below. 

<pre><code class="code-10 nolinks" id="code-20-41494423-1">Set sqlGetSong = Server.CreateObject(&quot;ADODB.Command&quot;)
sqlGetSong.ActiveConnection=EV_WikiConn
sqlGetSong.Prepared = true
sqlGetSong.commandtext = &quot;DECLARE @seperator INT Declare @String nvarchar(max) Declare @Tab TABLE (DT VARCHAR(100)) set @String = (select pagelist from songs where songtitle=?) WHILE (CHARINDEX('/', @String, 0) &gt; 0) BEGIN SET @seperator = CHARINDEX('/', @String, 0) INSERT INTO @Tab (DT) SELECT RTRIM(LTRIM(SUBSTRING(@String, 0, @seperator))) SET @String = STUFF(@String, 1, @seperator, '') END SET NOCOUNT ON INSERT INTO @Tab (DT) SELECT RTRIM(LTRIM(@String)) select DT as theFile from (select right(REPLACE(DT,right(DT,7),''),2)DY, right(REPLACE(DT, ')',''), 4)YR, * from @Tab) A order by YR, DY&quot;
sqlGetSong.Parameters.Append sqlGetSong.CreateParameter(&quot;@SongTitle&quot;, advarChar, adParamInput, 250, getSong) 
set rsSongs = sqlGetSong.execute EV_WikiConn.Open
if rsSongs.eof then ' Operation is not allowed when the object is closed.
' No records here
else
rsSongs(&quot;theFile&quot;) ' Item cannot be found
end if
</code></pre>
 
How do I get the records to show from this? 
Or does this take a whole different kind of asp code altogether?
</div>

<div>
<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
Hello All; 
I have a Table.Field named PageList 
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;select PageList from TheList 
Inside of this Field, is / separated word sets, with dates on them. 

<pre><code class="code-1 nolinks" id="code-10-28929294-1">File_Date_(Jan_21,_1976) / File_Date_(Mar_18,_1996) / File_Date_(Jan_22,_1983) / File_Date_(Jan_20,_1983) / File_Date_(Jan_14,_1976) / File_Date_(Jan_18,_1979) / File_Date_(Dec_18,_1979)
</code></pre>
 
I need the output, to be like this. (They are going to be wrapped inside of a BBCode Table Schema) 
 

<pre><code class="code-10 nolinks" id="code-10-28929294-2">70s goes here
 76 goes here
File_Date_(Jan_14,_1976)
File_Date_(Jan_21,_1976)

79 goes here
File_Date_(Jan_18,_1979)
File_Date_(Dec_18,_1979)

80s goes here
 83 goes here
File_Date_(Jan_20,_1983)
File_Date_(Jan_22,_1983)


90s goes here
 96 goes here
File_Date_(Mar_18,_1996)
</code></pre>
 
This is going to be the default look, pretty much. 
The Date will be wrapped in the parenthesis, and will also have an underscore, 
and as you can see, it also has a comma, at the end of the day. 
 
I am trying to make this as simple as possible, as we have 1,000's of pages that are going to be updated on a regular basis, and without having these ordered, and within a decent generated code structure, it is going to be very time-consuming, to say the least. 
 
Any idea's on this one? 
I know it is not going to be a simple one. 
Hopefully, I have provided enough information, to get going on it. 
 
Carrzkiss
</div>
</div>

Hello All;
I have a Table.Field named PageList
               select PageList from TheList 
Inside of this Field, is / separated word sets, with dates on them.
(CODE)

I need the output, to be like this. (They are going to be wrapped inside of a BBCode Table Schema)

(CODE)

This is going to be the default look, pretty much.
The Date will be wrapped in the parenthesis, and will also have an underscore, 
and as you can see, it also has a comma, at the end of the day. 

I am trying to make this as simple as possible, as we have 1,000's of pages that are going to be updated on a regular basis, and without having these ordered, and within a decent generated code structure, it is going to be very time-consuming, to say the least.

Any idea's on this one?
I know it is not going to be a simple one.
Hopefully, I have provided enough information, to get going on it.

Carrzkiss

Sort Text Date from SQL Server Table Column

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